Overview

Our number one priority is the safety of the public and the protection of our communities.

We want to help Ontarians protect what matters most to them, whether that’s their home or local business, or local infrastructure like roads and bridges.

Flooding and other natural hazards have a long history in Ontario. Ontario’s waterways have been the prime areas for settlements for hundreds of years.

Shorelines adjacent to rivers, streams, lakes as well as the Great Lakes have experienced much development over the last 100 years. Because many communities have been in areas subjected to flooding, erosion and other physical processes, the Province of Ontario and many of its citizens have experienced social and economic losses as well as human tragedies.

A key commitment of the Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan (PDF, 3.55 MB) is to undertake a provincial impact assessment to identify where and how climate change is likely to impact Ontario’s communities. The results from this assessment will provide decision makers with the data and information needed to better plan for more frequent extreme weather events such as flooding.

Homeowners across Ontario can be assured the Government of Ontario is taking action to protect public safety by better planning for and mitigating the effects of flooding.

Engagement

We engaged with the communities of Muskoka (May 17, 2019), Pembroke (May 23, 2019) and Ottawa (May 24, 2019) to hear about flooding experiences, discuss how to better prepare for future flooding events and respond when they happen.

The engagement sessions brought together approximately 60 municipal, Indigenous and industry leaders in flood zones to look for ways to improve Ontario’s resilience to flooding.

Feedback from the engagement sessions and online survey will help how we protect people and property from flooding.

Independent review of the 2019 flood events in Ontario

As a result of the feedback heard throughout our engagement, Mr. Doug McNeil was named Ontario's Special Advisor on flooding in July 2019. Mr. McNeil was appointed to advise the province on ways to reduce the impacts of flooding and ensure communities can recover quickly, such as:

  • assess current roles and responsibilities of governments, agencies and organizations involved in flood management, including any opportunities for improvement
  • review the feedback received through the survey and engagement sessions
  • identify focused recommendations
  • ensure all recommendations are consistent with the province's ability to implement them

Read Special Advisor Doug McNeil’s report on the 2019 flood events, including recommendations for improving flood resilience and enhancing public safety.

Online survey

Our online survey closed June 28, 2019. We invited Ontarians to provide feedback to help inform our future action. More than 600 people submitted feedback though our online survey.

Your feedback will help inform our future action.

Send us your ideas

You can continue to email us your ideas on how we might help Ontarians better prepare for floods and respond to them when they happen.

Please do not include personal or financial information.

Email file attachments cannot be bigger than 10 MB. If your file size is too large, you can mail a hardcopy or electronic copy on USB to:

Flooding Reform
Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
2nd Floor South, 300 Water Street
Peterborough, ON K9J 3C7

Your privacy is important to us.

Your personal information is being collected in order to help us identify potential measures to reform Ontario’s flood mitigation policies. Your responses will be reviewed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.

Your feedback may also be used in a summary report about this survey.

We may use your personal information, like your email address, to contact you to clarify your answers or ask for further information.

Some of the non-identifying information shared may be used by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, and their service providers to measure website analytics, performance and to improve our services.

Your information will not be placed on mailing lists or released to any third party, except as may be authorized by law. For questions on how personal information collected on this page will be used, please see our Privacy Statement or contact mnrwaterpolicy@ontario.ca.